Meet report, 9-16th May 2026 Rum and Corpach. This was a 2-centre meet, with a total of 15 members and guests attending at least part.

Steve and Wendy Richards had intended to travel to Rum on Friday May 8th, but spent the day looking at it from Mallaig, while unable to reach it: the CalMac ferry didn’t run “due to adverse weather”; the more cynical members of the party wondered later whether this was because bad weather cancellations don’t get refunded – the usual ferry being unavailable….

However the Saturday morning ferry DID run, and by this time Ged and Aaron Campion had also arrived in Mallaig. The weather was good (and the forecast damp and cloudy for Sunday) so both parties left their stuff at the bunkhouse in Kinloch and set off round the traverse of the Rum Cuillin. This is an excellent day out, with superb views in clear weather, but it’s a long day, and the path back from Dibidil bothy, where the ridge route finishes, can seem to take forever… Sensible Ged cut down after Askival, but the others did the lot. Not forgetting their collective responsibilities, the advance party were also able to do some research and reassure Richard Taylor that the village shop DID SELL BEER (and various other useful things, but the beer was critical).

Meanwhile on either Saturday evening or Sunday morning, Steve McCain, Helen, Michael and Richard Smith, Richard Taylor, David and Alison Anderson, Sue Thomason and Rory Newman all arrived in Mallaig to catch the Sunday morning ferry. They set off in sunshine, but cloud and rain arrived later.The advance party very decently met them off the ferry to help carry communal supplies back to the bunkhouse (which is modern, built by the community, very well-equipped and comfortable, and with a superb view back to the mainland across Loch Scresort from the sitting/dining area – can recommend).

Ged and Aaron, who had brought bikes over on the ferry, cycled to Kilmory (there’s a decent track), seeing deer and native ponies and a famous wrecked boat, and meeting the deer research station there. The rest of the party explored locally, getting a feel for the wildlife and the geology (and the beer supply, which turned out to be very adequate).Rum is an interesting place: the geology is complex; it was run for many years as a sporting estate, with a castle built of stone imported from Arran at vast expense by George Bullough, a textile magnate – the castle is now semi-derelict; the island was then handed over to the Scottish Nature Conservancy, and most of it is still a nature reserve; the area around the only village – Kinloch – is now owned by the community, there’s a small infant school, a shop, a community hall etc as well as the bunkhouse, and the village seems to be thriving. The island has red deer, ponies and wild goats plus a long-tailed mouse, but no other animals apart from seals and otters round the coasts; there are golden and white-tailed eagles, but the starring bird is the Manx Shearwater (confusingly Puffinus puffinus – the name basically and rather unflatteringly means “fatty”, as the chicks grow very fat); around one third of the world population – 100,000 pairs – nest on Rum.

Monday was forecast to be the best day, so some of the party set off early for the traverse of the Cuillin. David and Alison climbed Hallival, then sat in sunshine admiring the views and finding shearwater burrows (like puffins, they nest in burrows; unlike puffins they fish all day and only fly in to feed the single chick after dark); they had a flypast from a sea-eagle and saw goats.Sue and Rory walked out to Orval (with a magnificent panoramic view of islands and mainland) and Fionchra (which had large numbers of deer – there’s a local legend that anyone who kills a deer on Fionchra will die themselves soon after, and the deer have obviously read the guidebook); they looked over to Bloodstone Hill, where agates were quarried in prehistoric times for stone axes, knives and arrowheads, and saw a sea-eagle (the same one as D and A?) and a peregrine. Steve and Wendy followed a similar route but with extra tops; both noted an odd half-ruined stone construction on the way back which turned out to be a dam erected to try to divert water to the Kinloch River to attract salmon; the ungrateful salmon were not attracted however. Ged and Aaron had a gentle day on a local nature trail before catching the ferry home.

Meanwhile the Cuillin party were travelling slowly but still going; by the time they got to the bothy at Dibidil, Richard T was halfway tempted to spend the night, but Richard S volunteered to gallop back and have a hot meal ready, and that was sufficient incentive to get the rest of the party back, Steve M a bit earlier, and the last 3 as darkness was falling and the rain starting…after a great day out.

Tuesday started fair but threatened rain later, so most people opted for a lower level day. Michael and Helen explored what turned out to be tussock bog on the far side of the bay – Helen sank but recovered to reach dry (or at least dryer) land. David and Alison walked out towards Dibidil. Steve and Wendy walked to Kilmory. Richard T investigated the coffee possibilities at the shop. Steve M and Richard S bucked the trend, heading west and respectively walking a circuit involving Orval and locating the Orval pinnacle (very thin and totty; first “climbed” by lassooing the top followed by a Tyrolean traverse). Sue and Rory explored Barkeval, a Cuillin offshoot; they met goats and found some very good flowers, including moss campion and an unusual pennycress. Later came showers of rain and hail; most of us stayed in the bunkhouse and watched birds (apart from plentiful cuckoos and a tree-creeper in the woods, red-throated and great northern divers, eider, greylag, goosander, greenshank, cormorants and shag frequented the bay). Later Richard S braved the weather to march up Hallival to experience the return of the shearwaters after dark – an eerie experience as the chicks make strange noises while their parents somehow navigate to the correct burrow in darkness.

Wednesday was showery, and we were due to get the ferry in the afternoon. Most people stayed near the village, many spending time in a bird and otter hide – they saw seals but no otter. Richard T walked to Kilmory; Sue and Rory walked to Cave Bay. The Smiths and Andersons walked to an abandoned coastal hamlet at the far eastern point of Rum.

  Later we convened at the community centre for coffee and cake before wandering back to get the ferry – where there was one last surprise: the elusive otter was disporting itself by the ferry pier to entertain some tourists from a cruise ship (I wonder how much it gets paid). Particular credit to Michael, Richard T and Ged, who missed no opportunities for trying to recruit to the YRC international brigade – including a stray Belgian in a bothy, and a German father and daughter who claimed to be unable to read a map but still managed to get to the summit of Askival (probably, it was certainly the summit of something) and down again safely. The ferry took us back to Mallaig – very good rainbow en route. Steve M headed East to pursue his last 4 Munros; the rest of us drove to Corpach to our second bunkhouse (pleasant but we were spoilt by the luxury of Rum and found it a bit cramped) – where we found Adam Linford and James Bolton waiting for us; they had walked Cow Hill near Fort William.

Thursday forecast snow and high winds on the tops (and indeed we could see snow on the high tops each time the clouds parted). So Adam and James went to walk round Castle Tioram (founded by a descendant of Somerled, first Lord of the Isles) with good views and flowers. David and Alison, Steve and Wendy wanted PROPER COFFEE and found it at Neptunes Staircase (a lock ladder on the Caledonian Canal); S and W walked on to Gairlochy, D and A back to Corpach before leaving for more adventures in Aviemore. Sue and Rory also wandered along the canal, and met a canoe party setting off for Inverness. Meanwhile Richard S climbed Beinn a Chaorainn and Beinn Teallach before marching on to meet Michael, Helen and Richard T; they had explored the parallel roads of Glen Roy (famous geological feature, they are old lake shore levels) before climbing the rather disappointing Carn Bhrunachain (steep, wet, windy, foggy and not very interesting – indeed so uninteresting that Michael offered a free dinner to anyone from the YRC who had previously climbed it and could prove it….so far unclaimed).

Friday looked a better day. Alan and James walked the “ring of Steall” in the Mamores – a good day out. Richard S took a car round to Glen Nevis, walked with Steve and Wendy for 2 Munros, then returned to Corpach by bus and bicycle (which sounds a bit perverse, but see later). Steve and Wendy had a long and tiring day – but with excellent views –  walking the main spine of the Mamores from the Glen Nevis side (they were training for a trip to Switzerland).

Michael, Helen, and Richard T took the gondola up onto the Aonach ridge, then followed the ridge over the two summits and down into Glen Nevis to collect the car Richard had left – they had an exciting mixed day including a period of white-out. Finally Sue and Rory set out to do a hill up Glen Loy, but found the glen was shut (road resurfacing?) so instead walked up Gleann Cia-aig; Rory went on up Meall na h-Eilde – very steep but consoled by the idea of the excellent view from the summit, which he didn’t get as by then it was snowing. Happy days. At least he saw a ptarmigan in transition plumage (as did Richard S), and Sue met some “wild” or at least wild-living pigs.

And on Saturday, after a quick tidy-up, we all set off for home. Thanks to all for an excellent meet.

Attending:

Rory Newman, Sue Thomason (G), Steve and Wendy Richards, Michael and Helen Smith, Richard Smith, Richard Taylor, Steve McCain, Ged Campion, Aaron Campion, David and Alison (G) Anderson, Adam Linford, James Bolton (G).